Anthony Smith Responds To Jon Jones Booking With Cryptic Tweet

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In the wee hours of the morning today, news broke that Jon Jones would defend his title against rising star Anthony Smith at March 2’s UFC 235.

The booking, of course, is still contingent upon Jones being licensed by the NSAC at their next hearing on January 29. Jones was found to have small amounts of anabolic steroid Turinabol in his system in multiple USADA drug tests dating back to August. The amounts were not significant enough for him to receive further NSAC sanctions. They were enough, however, for the NSAC to choose not to license Jones for his UFC 232 return against Alexander Gustafsson.

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The fight was moved to Los Angeles as a result. Jones defeated Gustafsson by third-round TKO to regain his light heavyweight title. Almost immediately thereafter, Jones and Smith began their rivalry during the last FOX Sports 1-aired post-fight show. Smith called Jones out for July, but “Bones” wanted to get back into action sooner. So with the biggest fight of his career on tap, Smith understandably moved his plans up a few months.

Smith reacted to the news of his title fight with a cryptic tweet this morning:

Which Two?

Just what two types of men Smith is referring to remains to be seen. Regardless, ‘Lionheart’ has completed one of the more meteoric rises to title contention in recent memory. The onetime middleweight attained the status by winning three fights in 2018. He finished former champions Rashad Evans and Shogun Rua in June and July. Smith then submitted former title contender Volkan Oezdemir in his latest fight.

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He looked beyond impressive in those fights, but now he’ll be facing the greatest light heavyweight of all-time. Many believe Jones is the greatest MMA fighter of all-time period. He would almost certainly have that status locked up if not for his repeated outside-the-cage troubles over the past several years.

Several fans were quick to point out to Smith that the ‘two types of men’ when it came to Jones were “Bones” himself and the fighters he defeats so easily.

Will Smith join the long list of vanquished opponents on Jones’ decorated record? Or will he shock the world at UFC 235?